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Enrolled in the Record Books of Heaven, November 10
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens
with the saints.
Ephesians 2:19
.
Those who closely connect with God may not be prosperous in the things
of this life; they may often be sorely tried and afflicted. Joseph was maligned
and persecuted because he preserved his virtue and integrity. David, that chosen
messenger of God, was hunted like a beast of prey by his wicked enemies. Daniel
was cast into a den of lions because he was true and unyielding in his allegiance
to God. Job was deprived of his worldly possessions and so afflicted in body that
he was abhorred by his relatives and friends, yet he preserved his integrity and
faithfulness to God. Jeremiah would speak the words which God had put into his
mouth, and his plain testimony so enraged the king and princes that he was cast
into a loathsome pit. Stephen was stoned because he would preach Christ and Him
crucified. Paul was imprisoned, beaten with rods, stoned, and finally put to death
because he was a faithful messenger to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. The beloved
John was banished to the Isle of Patmos “for the word of God, and for the testimony
of Jesus Christ.”
These examples of human steadfastness, in the might of divine power, are a
witness to the world of the faithfulness of God’s promises—of His abiding presence
and sustaining grace. As the world looks upon these humble men, it cannot discern
their moral value with God. It is a work of faith to calmly repose in God in the
darkest hour—however severely tried and tempest-tossed, to feel that our Father is
at the helm. The eye of faith alone can look beyond the things of time and sense to
estimate the worth of eternal riches.
The great military commander conquers nations and shakes the armies of half
the world, but he dies of disappointment and in exile. The philosopher who ranges
through the universe, everywhere tracing the manifestations of God’s power and
delighting in their harmony, often fails to behold in these marvelous wonders the
Hand that formed them all. “Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like
the beasts that perish.” No hope of glorious immortality lights up the future of the
enemies of God. But those heroes of faith have the promise of an inheritance of
greater value than any earthly riches—an inheritance that will satisfy the longings
of the soul. They may be unknown and unacknowledged of the world, but they
are enrolled as citizens in the record books of heaven. An exalted greatness, an
enduring, eternal weight of glory, will be the final reward of those whom God has
made heirs of all things (
Testimonies for the Church 4:525, 526
).
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